What kinds of radios do people mostly run? Kitting out my D1...

[Young Angus]

Gotta buy a radio setup for my D1 and I am going to put in a semi-decent UHF, but was also wondering if people run other types of radios for emergency situations and what these are...like a HF...right?

Do people run a few different comms types in their tourers? Just trying to figure out what I actually need. I want to be able to communicate with other cars in a convoy and spotters but also maybe some emergency stuff. Haven't fitted out radio gear before so any advice is great :)

[Tombie]

What sort of areas are you looking to travel?
How frequently?
What duration?

I ask these because if you’re looking at remote trips only a few times a year, then hiring comms outside of a basic UHF often works out cheaper.

[weeds]

for our next extended remote trip I’ll consider purchasing a Sat Phone

Until than I’m comfortable with my UHF and PLB.

[donh54]

UHF and PLB for me, too. Can't recall where I got it, ACMA maybe, but I used to have a map showing UHF repeater coverage areas. Could be handy planning your trip needs.

[trout1105]

I have a UHF radio fitted to the truck and also carry a hand held unit.
As 99% of the time I am towing a boat I also have flares and an EPIREB that I can use in an emergency situation.
A sat phone or a HF radio would be nice But unless you are travelling to extremely remote areas on your own I feel that they are an unwarranted expense.

[Young Angus]

For now it'll just be a few trips a year, and nothing extremely remote just yet...but hopefully very soon :D

I think I like the sound of an EPIRB and a UHF for now, sounds like that will do me.

What exactly is a HF radio good for?

I've got a really good old classic AM CB radio which has wood grain on it that I was going to fit just for a talking point...wonder if there will be anyone to talk to on that ;)

[AK83]

For UHF, I can't recommend the GME XRS(370 and 330) series highly enough.
I'm guessing that you'd be the type to appreciate the bluetooth connectivity feature they have.
The Bt feature is a simple way to upload stored settings into the radio itself via your Bt 'smart device'.
The unit itself holds about 400 extra receive channels into different memory banks, which means that you can load a heap of emergency channels into the unit for the various areas you visit.

eg. on your impending WA trip you'd locate WA emergency channels(via the smart device app) in the area you're going to visit(in WA) and when you get there, you'd then load whichever number of channels that fit into the memory bank sync the radio to the app, they get loaded into the radio and in use you just flick to that memory bank.
So you get the normal 80channels for normal use and you set the radio to scan .. it then listens to all those channels in that memory bank.

Took me a few goes to understand the process, but now it makes more sense having done it few times(I have the 370c).
If the radio is disconnected from it's power source, it loses all the saved settings. Having all those settings backed up in the app makes it easy to set it up again the way you prefer. [thumbsupbig]

As for AM .. haven't used it in about 20 odd years. Had a nice Motorola unit with chrome and woodgrain in my RRC way back in the early 90's, which my brother brought back from the US .. was ok in terms of usage, but UHF is a lot better for actual comms.
I guess you may be able to listen too someone playing with their HAM setup wherever they may be in the world ... I doubt anyone still has one fitted to their vehicle tho.

[Tins]

Anyone have experience with these? Personally, I can see issues when you upgrade to a new phone, but maybe they've thought of that. I don't imagine that they are as good as a dedicated satphone, but they are way cheaper and have the advantage of familiarity, which could help in an emergency. Subscription costs should be the same one would think. Maybe they can be hired as well.

SatSleeve for iPhone | Thuraya (http://www.thuraya.com/SatSleeve)

Pivotel Sat Sleeve (http://www.pivotel.com.au/thurayasatsleeve.php)

[Tombie]

Anyone have experience with these? Personally, I can see issues when you upgrade to a new phone, but maybe they've thought of that. I don't imagine that they are as good as a dedicated satphone, but they are way cheaper and have the advantage of familiarity, which could help in an emergency. Subscription costs should be the same one would think. Maybe they can be hired as well.

SatSleeve for iPhone | Thuraya (http://www.thuraya.com/SatSleeve)

Pivotel Sat Sleeve (http://www.pivotel.com.au/thurayasatsleeve.php)

You can get a version that doesn’t “sleeve” that avoids the phone upgrade issue.

Links via WiFi/BT (I forget which) and uplinks from a small unit external to your phone...

[Tombie]

Here’s one Iridium Go! (http://www.landwide.com.au/products/iridium-go)

[AK83]

Anyone have experience with these? Personally, I can see issues when you upgrade to a new phone, but maybe they've thought of that. .....

My (eventual) plan is to get a smart phone connection for sat phone(eg. a sleeve) too.
Looked into a HF setup, and the install and setup make it about the same entry price anyhow .. so the sat phone route is predominantly for the purpose of compactness/portability.
The downside to the satphone route is just the cost of connectivity.
But for my purposes it'd only be for emergency comms anyhow when in remote areas.

The way I'm reading how they work tho is that, with the smart phone adapter, you don't need a sim card for the smart phone as the sat phone adapter device is the comms device(ie. like a modem) to transfer the data from the smart phone to the sat network.
So all you need is a charged up smart phone device.

So for the sleeve type device, upgrading your regular phone would really be inconsequential.
You'd just keep the smartphone that fits the sleeve, sim card is irrelevant as it's not needed, and your updated smartphone doesn't come into the equation for satphone connectivity.

This way you then maintain the satphone adapter AND the (now) old smartphone as the satphone device. You still bring your now updated smartphone with you for when you're in an area with phone reception.
Sat phone device(s) all stay safe in some nice hardened case for protection ... as it's really only for the purpose of occasional contact with the rest 'civilisation' and not your primary mode of comms.

That Iriduim Go device that Tombie linked too could be more practical overall tho.
I could imagine in some situations where satellite reception could be marginal and the transceiver device may need some elevation or something like that. That type of device would make it easier to place it in an optimal location(eg. top of vehicle , or up high on a pole/post/tree or whatever) and as long as the 30m reception to the smartphone device is maintained you don't need to risk safety to make a connection.

[Young Angus]

Hi Arthur, just wondering if you can offer some advice on the XRS 370 vs the 330, the only difference being that the 370 you have is a little larger base unit and has a speaker in there too. I've found a 330 kit which is good and a decent price and I'm pretty keen to grab one of these newer GME units, sounds like they're really good, just wondering if you can comment on if the speaker in the base unit is at all useful or it really doesn't matter and the hand unit is good enough?


For UHF, I can't recommend the GME XRS(370 and 330) series highly enough.
I'm guessing that you'd be the type to appreciate the bluetooth connectivity feature they have.
The Bt feature is a simple way to upload stored settings into the radio itself via your Bt 'smart device'.
The unit itself holds about 400 extra receive channels into different memory banks, which means that you can load a heap of emergency channels into the unit for the various areas you visit.

eg. on your impending WA trip you'd locate WA emergency channels(via the smart device app) in the area you're going to visit(in WA) and when you get there, you'd then load whichever number of channels that fit into the memory bank sync the radio to the app, they get loaded into the radio and in use you just flick to that memory bank.
So you get the normal 80channels for normal use and you set the radio to scan .. it then listens to all those channels in that memory bank.

Took me a few goes to understand the process, but now it makes more sense having done it few times(I have the 370c).
If the radio is disconnected from it's power source, it loses all the saved settings. Having all those settings backed up in the app makes it easy to set it up again the way you prefer. [thumbsupbig]

As for AM .. haven't used it in about 20 odd years. Had a nice Motorola unit with chrome and woodgrain in my RRC way back in the early 90's, which my brother brought back from the US .. was ok in terms of usage, but UHF is a lot better for actual comms.
I guess you may be able to listen too someone playing with their HAM setup wherever they may be in the world ... I doubt anyone still has one fitted to their vehicle tho.

[AK83]

Depends on where you place the base unit.
I placed mine inside the glovebox, taped and zip tied to the dash metal mounting(ie. above the actual inside of the glovebox).
So it's hidden, and therefore the speaker is next to useless.

Only reason I got the 370 model was that Radio Parts had it on sale for the same price as the 330 unit, and it wasn't that much more than what you can find (say) on ebay and other internet sites. (plus I like to support local biznesses where I can too! [thumbsupbig])
My plan was to save those $'s and get the 330, knowing that for my use the built in speaker was going to be useless.

The mic speaker is definitely very good, both models have dynamic volume feature(increases in vol depending on volume/strength of incoming signal).

If you place the base unit somewhere more open, it's speaker unit is a bit better than the handset's speaker .. but very small percentages.
Only handy reasoning to have the 370 and have its base unit mounted somewhere open is that you can set the unit up to use both speakers at the same time ... sound is much better this way.

In a D1(even tho it's a Tdi) .. the advantage is probably not enough to warrant the added expense of the 370.
In an oldish(ie. loud) truck or any other loud machinery .. I'd say more so.

Vol level control I think goes from 0-20 of their units.
On the whole(using just the mic speaker) I set it to between 5-10. On rough gravel roads(ie. D1 drumming and various road induced noises) .. I usually set it to 15. 20 is 'too loud'.

I placed my mic unit on the RHS of the centre console right near my left knee as I drive.
Small ethernet plug popping out of the console to allow quick easy removal in suspicious locations ;) .. and it's gives pretty good sound from down there.
When driving in convoy, and the likelyhood of comms is higher, I just place the mic unit over my left leg(for quick/easy access).

It also has an Aux out port, so that if you had a car stereo with an Aux input, you could run it via the stereo if need be.
I tried it, but didn't see any advantage, and it's more annoying not having quick easy access to the car stereo, that is switching between aux and radio(for me).

Considering they have a bluetooth system built into the unit .. I'm surprised they didn't use that feature for comms through a Bt enabled car stereo(ie. as your phone can do).

I'd say in terms of impressions made by the device, #1 is definitely the quality of the head/mic unit .. and #2 is the ability to easily setup those receive only channels via their app(and saving the units settings).